08/02/2018 This Week

Take a look.

There is a mist coming

in. Something is brewing, about to

begin. Could it be this week? Here

it is practically perfect in every

way.

# A spoonful of sugar helps the

medicine go down.

Kate Andrews hopes a spoonful of

sugar will have the medicine go

down.

Yes, I do, Andrew. But I think

the NHS may need more than a

sweetener or two. I know it is

unpopular but Donald Trump has a

point about the National Health

Service.

Kate McCann round-up the political

week.

Votes for this week! Votes for

this week?

Is anybody actually watching?

And drag queen Courtney Act thinks

we should take a jolly holiday from

gender obsession.

You know what,

Andrew? You are not bad for a bloke,

but for the sake of humanity can we

sweep away gender stereotypes?

Thanks, Courtney. All that coming

up. Before we begin, let me make one

thing clear. This week never

explains anything!

Evenin' all.

Welcome to This Week,

the East Coast Mainline

of bankrupt late night TV.

We started out 15 long years ago,

a child of the state.

But then we were privatised

and lived high on the hog.

Too high.

We went bust.

So the state took us

back into its care.

Then, with a casual disregard

for recent history,

we were privatised again.

Trebles all round.

Until we went bust.

Again.

Forcing us once more

into the warm if somewhat stale

embrace of the state.

They've even thrown in the Newsnight

franchise just to keep us sweet.

"It's time the BBC stood up

to the 35 hardcore incompetents

who've presided over this farce,"

I cried.

"It's time we slung 'em out."

Until Molly the Dog put me back

on my medication, and pointed

out that without them

there would be no show.

So, at great sacrifice,

I'm taking a pay cut instead.

I'm told it's very fashionable among

men of a certain age

in the BBC these days.

Speaking of those who've failed

to shine in the public

or the private sector,

I'm joined on the sofa tonight

by two politicians who couldn't

even get citizenship

in Jacob Rees Mogg's vassal state.

I speak of course of

Alan #SadManonTheLeft Johnson

and Anna #ProperTory Soubry.

Welcome to you both.

Anna, your

moment of the week? Kaan Ayhan two?

No. Tuesday, big moment of the week.

A great site to see all those women,

Tory women MPs. The celebration of

almost all women getting the vote.

100 years ago. I think it's quite

interesting. I am a feminist but I

don't wear my womanhood, if you

like, in the jobs I have done, which

have been mainly male dominated

business, industry sec set. But

these young Tory women were there

with their rosettes and their

Suffragette women's -- ribbons and

they were proud of it. And then

Harriet Harman, who has done so much

for women in politics, really brave.

Great stuff. And Theresa May, the

second female Prime Minister just

happens to be a Tory. She also has

done a great deal.

And glad we're

not making any party political

points.

Alan? Normally I wouldn't

talk about railways. I have to go

back to your splendid introduction.

For the 15 years this programme has

been on I have travelled the east

coast railway. I started off on

Gianni. They lost the track --

franchise. I was them with National

Express, then someone else in the

middle. Then I was back with a state

owned East Coast rail line.

owned East Coast rail line. Then it

went to Stagecoach Virgin.

went to Stagecoach Virgin.

Anu,

sorry for interrupting you.

Now I'm

into the next one. Chris Grayling

came to parliament last week and

said Stagecoach Virgin was wrapping

up. But he could well give them an

extension. It is the best argument,

the east Coast, for taking the

railways back into public ownership.

And I am not a private sector bad,

public sector good kind of

politician. It is a kind of open

door. It is the kind of thing that

if Theresa May was going to do

something radical, and that is a

surprise, she would go down that

route. Or that Railtrack.

Good to

have two nonparty political points.

Kind of.

It was former Tory Chancellor Nigel

Lawson who said the NHS

was the closest Britain had

to a national religion,

which folks criticised

at their peril, and whose insatiable

demand for more resources

politicians had no

choice but to feed.

So when President Trump tweeted

that the NHS was not working,

there was predictable outrage

from across the political spectrum

at such ignorant blasphemy.

Of course, it did not help that

Mr Trump was using in evidence

a British demonstration calling

for more NHS, not less.

Subtlety - or facts - is not always

The Donald's strong suit.

But did he have a point?

Is the NHS really the envy of

the world, as even Tory politicians

like to claim these days?

Here's Kate Andrews from

the Institute of Economic Affairs

with her Take of the Week.

I'm rarely a fan of Donald Trump's

provocative tweets.

But this time he's got a point.

He is wrong about the NHS

protestors' motivations.

Making him a troll

of the highest order.

But he's right that the NHS

is on life support.

Criticise the American

system all you want.

But health care provision isn't

a black or white issue.

And 28 million uninsured

Americans are not proof

the UK has a good system.

Despite increased funding in real

terms the NHS remains in critical

condition in vital areas,

from maternity wards to A&E.

Winter flu caused yet another

crisis, resolved only by cancelling

50,000 operations in the first month

of the year.

Yet senior politicians are applauded

for making ridiculous claims

like the NHS is the envy

of the world, when in reality it

tends to rank in the bottom third

of health system performance

across the developed world.

The UK invented the concept

of universal coverage,

meaning everyone has access to care

regardless of ability to pay.

We are told it in

the DNA of the NHS.

Great.

But most of the developed world has

adopted the principle of universal

access through other means.

The centralised bureaucratic

monopoly that is the NHS is no

longer the best medicine.

It is a myth that we face a binary

choice between the NHS and the USA.

Both countries would do well to look

at the social health insurance

systems in Europe for prescriptions

for better, patient-centric care.

Who in their right mind could be

outside Britain looking in and think

this is a system worth emulating?

Nobody in the developed world should

envy the NHS, not even the USA.

That was Kate Andrews. She joins us

now. Welcome. Anna, if the NHS is

the envy of the world, why hasn't

another country copied it?

I don't

know the answer to that. I think

it's good. I think when it works

well, it's outstanding.

That is true

of anything if it works.

No, with

the NHS there is an idea that it is

either pretty average if not pretty

bad. There are problems.

Let's take

one problem. Cancer survival rates.

They are not just worse than

Scandinavia, America, Canada or

Australia. For some cancers they are

worse than Brazil and Costa Rica.

And?

Can't be that great if we can't

be better than Costa Rica.

I don't

have the stats in front of me. But

the advances that have been made

have been terrific. What is the

alternative? I think as a nation we

like an NHS that is free at the

point of delivery. It's part of our

DNA. I don't think people want to

change that. I'm not saying it

doesn't need more money. We have to

be honest about that. I'm not saying

it doesn't need to work better.

There are huge improvements that can

be made.

Let me bring Alan in.

But I

don't think it is bust.

Bowel cancer

survival rates, 17th in Europe, 30th

and the world. Prostate cancer, 16th

in Europe, 26th in the world. Breast

cancer survival rates, 14th in

Europe, with these statistics you

can't be the envy of the world?

No,

but we shouldn't defend the NHS on

the basis of some mythical, we are

the envy of the world, we should

base it on what it has done for the

British people. What it has done

more than anything else, and there

are other countries, Sweden,

Canada... Look at how difficult it

was to change our system. When it

was done by the Labour government

they needed a landslide majority to

do it. They were bitterly opposed by

doctors. They were bitterly opposed

by the opposition.

Nothing to do

with the performance now.

You asked

why nobody else had followed it.

When you are trapped in the system

you have got it is difficult to

change to a new system. There is

this issue of serenity, people's

peace of mind. It is measured in

terms of fairness by the

Commonwealth fund in America, who

put the NHS top. On the cancer

survival rates, there are all sorts

of issues about whether people

report early. Let me give you

instant mortality. The infant

mortality in America is about where

Britain was before the NHS was

created. 26 deaths for every 100,000

births.

I don't think anybody would

say the American system is the envy

of the world. It's probably a good

idea not to follow it at all.

Absolutely.

Would these figures not

be better if we spend more, if we

were closer to the European average

of spending?

Possibly. I'm not fully

opposed to putting more money in the

NHS, but certainly not under the

system it has no. You mentioned

Sweden. Sweden has not copied the

NHS like-for-like. There are

significantly more private

provisions. It is the same in

Europe. The principle you are both

highlighted is still so very

important. America misses out on

that. They have more market

provisions. You don't have longer

waiting times. You're better

survival rates. Better preventative

care. I am hearing America being

held up as the strawman.

held up as the strawman. Nobody

wants the American system to be

brought to the UK. Surely we have

more to learn from Belgium,

Switzerland, Germany or France.

There is a lot to be learned,

especially since the NHS really is

lagging behind in Sunni areas.

But

if we learned from Sweden and

Switzerland and other countries, and

went to a social insurance system,

which won't happen for reasons Anna

says, but if we did, that is not

going to improve cancer rates

overnight.

It will improve it much

faster than under the NHS. I don't

agree with that at all. This is not

simply an issue of funding being cut

recently. It has been lagging for

decades.

Why do you say it? Rig we need to

talk about it, people are dying. I

don't think people are not talking

about it, I want to know what your

solution is. Actually, I think our

system, at its heart, and in theory,

is absolutely right. Alan's point is

critical. This idea, which is so

important to Brits, you know it

doesn't matter, it will be there for

you.

But he recognised that has been

adopted...

That is true in France as

well. It is true in Belgium,

Holland.

That is the insurance

model.

That is not something we

should fear monger about. Every

single developed country in the

world apart from America gives

universal access to health care.

Let's not fear monger about what is

happening in Germany and Sweden,

these are not scary systems.

They

check your insurance.

The principle

of universal access has been adopted

by everybody, but the central

bureaucratic system has not. That is

why they get better outcomes. Can we

not just look at these systems to

get better care?

We can get it with

what we have got.

YouTube are great

Europeans. You were both Remainers.

You think we have a lot to learn and

be close to Europe. Why won't you

learn from European health systems

that have universal access and

better outcomes than the NHS?

They

have better funding.

Some do.

Not

all of them.

Germany and France came

below the Commonwealth fund.

Politicians on both sides are always

using it. It is the only one the NHS

does well on. In the Commonwealth

fund, it measures input, not output,

not patient care. Indeed, on the

patient care, an actual health

outcomes, even on the Commonwealth

fund, the NHS comes tenth out of

11th. The Guardian remarked on it,

the only serious black mark against

the NHS, in Commonwealth fund

research, was its poor record of

keeping people alive.

America came

11th, by the way.

Why not Germany,

Belgium!

You are saying that Trump

has a point, are we supposed to talk

about Sweden when he said that?

Yes,

his whole point is that the NHS is

failing, that does not make America

any better. I am from America, I'm

not coming over saying to adopt the

American system. As I said on the

video, I wish both countries would

look at Switzerland. Let's stop

painting it as a black-and-white

decision, it is not about the USA

against the NHS.

The Commonwealth

and is the only one that measures

things like health in equality,

fairness, how it affects the poorest

in society.

What is fair about

thousands of European people

surviving, the fact that 30,000 more

people in Germany every year will

survive the five most common types

of cancer?

When you quote that, as

if the NHS was very keen for people

to die of cancer...

Of the course

they are not.

It is people going to

their GP, particularly men...

You

need access to the GP, shorter

waiting times.

Please do not tell me

that you don't...

The waiting times

in this country are appalling

compared to European counterparts.

Depends where you live. Certain GP

surgeries like mine, I can see my GP

if I want to, on the morning that I

ring up and can get in straightaway.

It depends where you live.

That does

not sound like a postcode lottery is

a fair system. He is talking about

fairness, but you are talking about

a postcode lottery.

You made a

generalisation.

You have both talked

about GP appointments. The European

health consumer index, done by real

specialists, it ranks the NHS 15th

in terms of health care in the EU.

We are around Slovakia and Portugal.

It says, in terms of same day GP

appointments, access to specialists

or waiting for routine surgery, in

Europe, only island does worse.

There is a real issue about access

to GP surgeries. There is a real

issue of waiting times with surgery.

There is an issue, 40,000 nursing

vacancies. There is an issue about

how by 2020 it will be 6.6% of our

wealth. It is higher in every other

European country, and below the OECD

average. They are not reasons why we

should say...

Are they scrapping it?

A system where if people are ill,

they get care immediately, does not

mean we should scrap that.

Wendy

Tony Blair government was increasing

health spending in real terms, by

about 5 billion per year, you did

begin to see real improvements

taking place. This government has

not increased by anything like that.

If we did fund by the European

average, with some of the figures,

not good figures that I quoted,

would they not come better?

As I

said, I think you can look at

increasing funding. But it is a

secondary issue to the broken

system. Under the Tony Blair years

we saw some improvements. Even

during those years, fortunately, the

NHS still fell below the European

counterparts. I am open to that

discussion. I am not being a radical

or an ideologue, but I so

desperately wish that politicians,

sitting across from me, would be

willing to engage on Germany,

Switzerland and France, because it

is not just the fact...

I think we

are willing to engage.

We have run

out of time. Thank you very much.

Good discussion. Lively! That is why

people watch This Week.

It's late.

Stephen Kinnock and

Damian Green late.

These unlikely lads have been having

a delicious Twitter spat over

what Mr Kinnock calls his "24-hour

hunger strike" to campaign

for proportional representation.

They really are suckers for lost

causes in the Kinnock family.

Mr Green, erstwhile deputy

to the Maybot and now clearly

with time on his hands,

dismissed the protest

as "little more than a diet".

Probably a variant of the 5:2 diet.

No doubt delirious from the pangs

of hunger and fearful

that the Commons Canteen

was preparing to force feed him,

Mr Kinnock snapped back

that he was "glad to see"

that the unfortunate Mr Green

"was using his computer for Twitter"

instead of anything which might have

previously got him into trouble.

Absolutely no idea what he's

referring to there!

Stephen Kinnock said he'd been

inspired by the suffragette

movement, which had a big

anniversary this week.

And we do live in an age

when a little virtue

signalling goes a long way.

But someone who's perhaps -

just perhaps - this is no time

to go out on a limb -

in a better position to comment

on equal rights, is the singer

and Celebrity Big Brother winner,

Courtney Act who, is tonight putting

gender politics in the Spotlight.

And, if you'd like to comment

on the Tweeter, the Fleecebook,

and the Snapnumpty, then

be my guest.

I'm sure someone will read them.

Me, I'm consumed by indifference.

I'd rather fire myself into space

in an unmanned rocket,

with only a dummy astronaut

and a David Bowie LP

to keep me company.

At least I'd get a bit of peace.

And better conversation!

Beware three-legged poodles!

We learned this week that

Theresa May had one as a child.

Sadly the family pet

had gone "tri-pedal",

following an altercation with a car.

But despite a few wobbles,

the little creature adapted

and was apparently great.

Until she lost it in the wheat field

she was always illicitly running

through when she was

a wee scallywag.

Could there be a lesson

in this for the big dogs,

sniffing around Number

10 at the moment?

Despite being knocked sideways

by all and sundry as she holds

on grimly to the Brexit Bandwagon,

the Maybot is still standing.

The Tories are even four

points ahead of Labour

in a new poll out today.

A hundred years on from some women

first getting the vote,

politics is still a pretty bruising

business for men and women.

Here's the Telegraph's Kate McCann

with her round-up of the week.

Well, I'll say one

thing for This Week.

Man or woman, girl or boy, they

treat us all the same

- appallingly!

They said they'd be here hours ago

to help me with this round-up.

Oh, well.

I'd best get started.

The week began with a fresh salvo

over anti-Brexit bias on Whitehall.

Former head of the civil

service Gus O'Donnell

showed his own impartiality

when he compared pro-Brexit

ministers to snake oil salesmen.

He came back swinging later

in the House of Lords when he said

the attacks were a form of bullying.

Those making allegations

without supporting evidence,

against serving civil servants

who will not respond,

are undertaking a form

of bullying that, to be honest,

is something which actually

diminishes those making the attacks.

But I think, more importantly,

damages our democracy.

Now, any mandarins worried

about Brexit could take a leaf out

of David Davis's book.

The Brexit Secretary

turned up for the second

phase of talks this week,

claiming he was perfectly clear

about what he wants from the EU.

Atta boy, DD!

We want a comprehensive free trade

agreement, and with it,

a customs agreement.

And to make that as frictionless

as possible, to make as much trade

that currently exists

as free as possible.

While still giving ourselves

the opportunity to make free trade

deals with the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, the EU

was equally clear that DD

can't have it both ways.

Oi, you!

The 5-0!

The only thing I can say,

without a customs union,

outside the single market,

barriers to trade and goods,

and services, are unavoidable.

The time has come to make a choice.

The PM has probably done enough

to placate her pro-Brexit

backbenchers, at least for now.

And that just leaves the Remainers,

who are not going quietly.

This week, Anna Soubry had some

helpful advice for the PM.

Labour's front bench

itself is ideological.

My front bench probably isn't,

but it's in hock to 35 hard

ideological Brexiteers who are not

Tories.

They are not the Tory party that

I joined 40 years ago,

and it's about time Theresa stood up

to them and slung them out.

Because they have taken down Major,

they took down Cameron.

The PM explained she's got

a different approach to leadership

than some of her male predecessors.

Women will often have a different

approach to leadership,

will often have a different approach

to doing a job from a man.

Just because it is different,

it doesn't mean it doesn't

get the same results.

Wait a minute, she expects

the same result.

Oh, my Maastricht.

Leadership is all

about carrying the can.

And discredit where discredit's due,

this week Carillion bosses

were in front of MPs to explain

what went wrong at the

government contractor.

Where have I put my keys?

What is your responsibility

for this collapse?

Full and complete.

Total?

Total.

Very good.

There is no question

in my mind about that.

Not necessarily culpability,

but full responsibility.

Elsewhere, Stagecoach

and Virgin pulled of operating

the East Coast Mainline

earlier than expected.

And, at the same time,

the Government has awarded them

the contract to operate

the West Coast Mainline.

Labour weren't happy about it.

Virgin Stagecoach failed

to deliver on their contract

on the east coast route.

No problem!

The Government will step

in and bail them out,

kissing goodbye to the £2 billion

Virgin had previously agreed to pay.

But, guess what?

Let's just give both companies

a new contract to run

the West Coast line as well.

Listening to the Secretary

of State's statement, I didn't know

whether to laugh or cry.

At Prime Minister's Questions,

Jeremy Corbyn went on police cuts.

The PM attacked Corbyn's

economic credibility.

After seven years, seven years

of cuts, will the Prime Minister

today admit that her Government's

relentless cuts to police,

probation services and social

services have left us less safe?

The reality is, you can't have

public safety on the cheap.

You can only pay for our

public services if you

have a strong economy.

And what would we see

with the Labour Party?

Capital flight or

a run on the pound.

That is what Labour would do,

bankrupt Britain and the police

would have less money and a Labour

than under the Conservatives.

Something is working for her.

The latest YouGov poll

shows the Tories four

points ahead of Labour,

despite a tricky couple of weeks.

Never mind, Jeremy.

Gerry Adams thinks

you would be a good PM.

Put that on your posters!

I would like to see Jeremy in that

position, for the benefit

of people in Britain,

leaving Ireland out of it.

I think Jeremy is an

outstanding politician.

I hope my endorsement of him isn't

used against him in the time ahead.

You know what?

We've come so far.

The vote, and, 100

years on, equal pay.

Well, not actually equal, legally.

Harassment free workplaces?

Hmm.

A woman's work is never done.

And that was Kate in black and

white. Here she is in colour.

Welcome. Alan, where the Tories four

points ahead in this latest opinion

poll?

A very good question. I don't

know but I saw this focus group

response about, who would you trust

to look after your house if you were

away? People went overwhelmingly for

Theresa May. Who would you have look

after your pets? Jeremy Corbyn.

There is a message there that the

compassion side isn't getting

through to the hard-headed if you

want to run the country. We should

be storming it and we are not. This

is a message for those people losing

to think we won the last election.

Add to that the fact sectarian

politics are coming back. Momentum

are taking over the NEC. They are

taking over all the levers of power.

For those of us who remember, this

smacks very much like the early 80s.

And that intolerance, that

divisiveness, we have seen it in

Haringey Council and all of that, I

don't think it does is any good.

Neither should it.

What does he know

that he is not telling us?

He has

just said it. He is more subtle than

I am. The problem is Jeremy Corbyn.

Is that right?

I'm reluctant to say

because of what happened at the last

election. That was good. We have

hoovered the votes on the left. The

Greens have hollowed out. Respect

have disappeared. They won a

by-election not so long ago. We have

even got the SWP walking about with

banners. Saying back Corbyn. The day

when the Trotskyites are saying back

the leader of the Labour Party, you

know you are in trouble. He has the

votes on the left. Is there the

capacity to win over the people who

voted Tory last time? No. It is

difficult to imagine.

Is Mrs May

doing better than the Westminster

bubble thinks?

I think so. Anna and

I were talking about it. It is

probably because Theresa May is

confident talking about women's

issues, things like the suffragettes

and getting women into Parliament.

She didn't really good speech in

Manchester this week were to give

some insight into her own feelings

about being a woman, being a leader.

When she said, you don't have to

behave like a man to get on, I think

for her to show that side, that

compassion, that personality, that

is really positive for her. She

clearly felt confident doing it.

She

has a great track record.

You call

the Mrs May to stand up to 35

hardline Brexiteers and sling them

out. How would that work?

She has to

stand up to these people. Had used

Lingen held? She has got to put them

absolutely in their place. -- how do

you sling them out?

You said sling

them out, there's -- they were your

words.

I'm deeply frustrated. I

joined the party 40 years ago where

I was fighting these people. They

brought down to leaders of my party

and they have not been sorted out.

You rejoined the Tory party when

Iain Duncan Smith was later.

And he

was slung out.

He was hardly your

kind of progressive Tory.

Hang on, I

joined the Tory party because he did

not represent the majority of

Conservative voters. That is why he

was removed as leader. He didn't do

that and he didn't do a very good

job. My one nation conservatism is

40 years old. And actually, quite

interestingly, it's exactly the same

conservatism of my parents who met

in the Young Conservatives.

But you

left the Tory party?

I did.

Uber

going to join the social Democrats.

I wasn't, actually.

You wrote a

letter to the Times.

My name was on

it. But I never actually...

Are you

telling us tonight now that you

don't think Mrs May should sling out

these Brexiteers?

I'm using that as

an absolute metaphor for sorting of

this party in the state it is in.

For decades there has been a group

of people, in my opinion they are

not true conservatives, who have put

forward their very narrow view on

Europe at all costs. I don't think

to reset appreciates that if they

don't get what they want, nobody, no

party will stand in the way of their

hard Brexit. They are ruthless macro

-- they're ruthless. They're

organised.

But he wouldn't sling

them out?

I don't want these people

to be doing the harm they have done

to the Conservative Party.

The Prime

Minister took the Tory whip away

from them, the government would

fall, wouldn't it?

If it comes to

it, and it will come to it,

something is going to happen. At the

moment to reset thinks she can keep

us together. To reset thinks she can

build a compromise. I admire her for

ambition. I think you underestimate

these people because when it comes

to the crunch could they don't get

what they want, they will vote her

down and they will remove her.

If

she did sling them out, she would

lose out as well. The government

would fall, wouldn't it?

Yes, it

would.

Not on Brexit. Do forgive me.

No, I think it is time for Kate.

I

think the problem you're underlining

here is that there will come a

point, and we are quickly reaching

it, were Conservatives feel that

Brexit is more important than their

party. That is on both sides. Anna's

site and Jacob Rees-Mogg's side.

When that happens, Theresa May faces

a real problem. When the party is no

longer the most important thing to

people in it, that is when you see a

split. That is coming. Both sides of

the argument have their right to say

because, of course, when the Brexit

vote happened, nobody is set out

what the picture was going to be

like when we left. Both sides are

vying to determine what that is.

The

big differences -- differences that

I am a pragmatic Tory so I will

always compromise. These people

want. They will use any tactic

available to them to quash the

argument and get what they want.

If

it comes to a vote on the eventual

deal that is done on Brexit, will

you still vote for it even if it

doesn't include being in the Customs

Union?

I could do that, if it is in

the round and delivers a good deal.

This is a mark of my pragmatism. It

depends what else it had with it. To

be honest, it is difficult to

imagine, especially after these

figures, first of all how Theresa

May is going to get these magic

deals. But secondly, it's difficult

to believe how getting membership of

the single market, getting

membership of the Customs Union, not

getting that will have the benefits

to our economy.

I understand that.

It is interesting that you may still

vote for that. Is it not

remarkable... Is not remarkable,

Alan, that 19 months after the

referendum, almost a year since

Article 50 was triggered, with only

nine months of negotiations left,

this Tory government still hasn't

agreed its position?

It is quite

amazing. You can see some kind of

logic. I read DfT last week saying

that of course we are now heading

for a soft Brexit. I read Ian Martin

today saying we're heading for a

hard Brexit. She is trying to keep

those views in play. She is either a

genius, which I doubt, in smoothing

over this. She has a tough job, to

be fair. But that is the frustration

of the Europeans. They still don't

know what we want.

Allen, being a

benign chap, has raised the

possibility she is a genius. I would

raise a more likely probability that

she is just taking indecision to new

heights.

I think that is more

likely. The problem is when you have

a vacuum of that magnitude it is

going to be filled. It is being sold

on both sides of the argument.

In

her defence, I know what she wants

to do is keep us together. I think

that is impossible.

What is more

likely? 35 Brexiteers being slung

out of the Tory party, or are you

defecting to the Lib Dems?

Now you

are being a silly Billy X not going

to the Lib Dems.

You heard it there

first.

What about Labour?

Yeah, I'm

really going to join Jeremy Corbyn,

aren't I?!

So happy birthday women's suffrage.

It was a hundred years

ago, this week in 1918,

that the Representation

of the People Act was passed.

This rather grudging piece

of legislation first granted

women the right to vote -

but only if they were over 30,

and only if they owned property.

The act also gave over five million

working class men the vote as well,

though we've heard very little

about that, even though

it was almost as significant

in its own way.

These were the folks who'd been sent

to the trenches in 1914,

by a government they'd played no

part in choosing.

Never again.

Over the past 100 years,

the world has changed more

than in the previous 1,000 years,

nearly always for the better.

We've flown to the moon,

created the inter web,

mapped our genome, defeated fascism

and communism, seen the spread

of democracy and taken hundred

of millions out of abject poverty.

Yet proper gender equality

still seems to elude us.

If you doubt that, look

at the under-representation

of women in the Commons,

or in FTSE 100 boardrooms.

Look at the unequal pay scales,

or the soft porn that

passes for pop videos.

Look at Harvey Weinstein.

So, tonight, we're putting gender

politics in the Spotlight.

Women fought hard for voting rights.

Some people had the most

ghastly treatment.

But a century on, the battle

for gender equality still rages.

We do not yet have equality.

We are a long way from equal power.

The fight for equality never ends.

It is just beginning

for a female Tesco workers.

Our job is of equal value

to the job the men do

in the distribution centres.

I think the similarities are such

that we should be paid the same.

But do equal rights eradicate gender

differences altogether?

Women often bring a different

approach to politics than do men.

Does that different approach

include mansplaining?

It's so useful to be corrected

by a helpful gentleman here.

How about a bit of good

old confrontation?

While I've got you here,

John, can I just ask,

have you apologised to Carrie Gracie

for the remarks you made

about her stance on equal pay?

I wrote her an e-mail immediately

after that exchange, yes I did,

as a matter of fact.

I'm very glad to hear that.

Quite what this has to do

with what we are discussing

here, I fail to see.

But there we are.

Superman gave a masterclass

in mansplaining this week.

Maternal love is the love

that's going to change

the future of mankind.

We like to say peoplekind,

not necessarily mankind.

It's more inclusive.

There we go, exactly!

Well JT, I'm afraid that

probably means you're not

going to like this news.

Girl power is back.

Courtney Act is the Spice

Girls' number one fan.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Courtney!

So is gender a useful

dividing line in politics?

Courtney is here. Welcome.

Thanks

for having me. Are we getting to

honk up on gender politics? It can

be fairly -- very polarising. I

think the conversation needs to be

had because it is easy to say we are

to honk up and stop the evolution.

There is still a lot of stuff that

needs to be looked at. I sometimes

wear there is yelling too loudly

from opposite sides of the room to

move forward.

It is getting

complicated. You identify yourself

as gender queer, have I got that

right?

Yeah.

Have I got that right?

Yeah. I grew up confused about how I

fit into the world as a male bodied

person who by day wasn't all that

masculine. I grew up in Australia.

These masculine ideals and feminine

ideals that were sort of thrust upon

us. I never really felt like I was

masculine enough. I do drag. I would

sort of be able by day and I felt

like I didn't fit in. I wasn't quite

right. All through my 20s I

struggled. A few years ago I had --

heard gender queer being bandied

around. I realised there was a place

where my phone amended -- femininity

and masculinity could be celebrated.

That doesn't just mean dressing as a

woman or a man. As a boy, expressing

my feminine side. I used to feel

comfortable wearing the colour pink

as a boy. To me, this socialised

idea of men and woman really

impacted me, even though I'm

probably a lot further left than

most people.

You said we have made

progress, that is clear. But it

still seems a struggle. We make

progress in some areas but then we

seem to go backwards or hit a brick

wall in others. Why is it such a

struggle?

I think the issue comes in

the style of argument. When people

are having a conversation they are

not listening, they are not

listening to other people's

experiences enough. They are quick

to say, this is my experience. That

must be what everybody's

experiences. And not just that, but

I think people get passionate about

things, which is good. But when they

get passionate they stopped the give

and take and flow of the

conversation.

Because you feel so

strongly about it you don't listen

to the other side?

Year. And not

just on gender but in politics.

Is

it a case of two steps forward, one

step back?

Having grown up in an age where

women were treated badly, to be gay

was to be chemically castrated by

the state, these changes, in your

lifetime as well, they have been

remarkable. Why is it so difficult?

Because women were not supposed to

be in the workplace at the time I

was born. Trade unions used to

object to women.

Really? In the old

days, the TUC was male dominated.

Now they have a female general

secretary.

It took a long time.

Are

you optimistic?

I worry, this

wretched dining club thing that

happened the other week really

shocked me. 2018 and women, young

women, were still be used as bait

for old and powerful men. I am the

mother of two daughters, and I think

they are pretty strong cookies, I

think that generation has got some

of the better attitudes. But I still

worry about what young women really

are. I worry about how to many of

them are still self harming, too

many of them have problems with

food. We see a rise in issues with

body image and self-confidence. That

worries me. I think we have to get

that stuff right.

You are going to

work, is that right? Where are you

going?

Tonight? I am going to a club

and dancing around on stage,

performing.

We thought we worked

late! This is early for you? We are

glad you found time for us. It has

been great to see you and listen to

you.

That's your lot tonight.

But not for us.

Inspired by Donald Trump's plans

to imitate President Macron's

Bastille Day military parade,

we're upstaging both with our very

own This Week parade.

A dozen red, white and blue

Sinclair C5s are revved up

and raring to go outside the studio.

Choc-full of Blue Nun

and parked on double-yellows.

That's how cavalier we are.

Biggles Soubry is taking

to the skies over Westminster

to perform, once again,

her famous loop de loop

in the Newsnight microlite.

While Corporal Johnson is leading

the Dagenham Girl Pipers down

Whitehall, in a rousing rendition

of Things Can Only Get Better.

Remember that?

We've hidden his guitar,

but I hear he's nicked

some spoons from the BBC

canteen so he can play along.

Anyway, we're off and we're

not stopping till we

make it to Loulou's.

Nighty-night.

Don't let the shenanigans

of the Irish Parliament bite.

One minute!

Order!

ALL SHOUT AT ONCE

That's outrageous!

ALL SHOUT AT ONCE

I'm going to move on. Control

yourself! Control yourself!

Deputies, I will take action.

You all so in violation of

regulations. I suspend the house!

You will not speak to the chair like

that!

I can speak to anybody...

I

suspend the house for five minutes.